Eddie Daniels (born October 19, 1941) is an American musician and composer. Although he is best known as a jazz clarinetist, he has also played alto and tenor saxophones, as well as classical music on clarinet.

Biography

Daniels was born in New York City to a Jewish family, and his mother emigrated from Romania.[1] He was raised in the Manhattan Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. He became interested in jazz as a teenager when he was impressed by the musicians accompanying singers, such as Frank Sinatra, on recordings. Daniels' first instrument was the alto saxophone, at the age of 13 he was also playing clarinet, and by the age of 15 he had played at the Newport Jazz Festival youth competition.[2]

In 2009, Swiss composer and saxophonist Daniel Schnyder composed a Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra called MATRIX 21 for Daniels and dedicated it to him. It was commissioned by the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne (Switzerland) and world-premiered in Lausanne under its artistic director Christian Zacharias in January 2010. The American premiere took place at the Crested Butte Music Festival on July 18, 2010, under the direction of music director Jens Georg Bachmann.